The Supreme Court on Thursday said the publication of the final report of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam should “in no circumstance” stretch beyond the July 21, 2019 deadline.
The apex court also directed that a meeting should be held between the Election Commission Secretary, Assam Chief Secretary and Assam NRC coordinator to ensure that the forthcoming general elections do not slow down the NRC process.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Assam, will ensure that the meeting is held within seven days.
The outcome of the meeting will be informed to the top court on February 5, when the matter will be taken again to the bench.
Assam NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela told the apex court that the process of receiving claims and objections had been completed on December 31 and that a total of 36.2 lakh claims and over 2 lakh objections had been received.
The hearing on the claims will start on Feb 15.
The Supreme-Court monitored update of the NRC is an exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals residing in Assam. A political controversy was triggered after the final draft list published on July 30 excluded more than 40 lakh people.
With PTI inputs
